Exactly SAF.
Some people do get mixed up in their heads between 'respecting cultural differences' and tolerating misogyny.
I thought the following was helpful from the AI report on Pakistan;
"Government of Pakistan has taken no measures to
end honour killings and to hold perpetrators to
account. It has failed to train police and judges to
be gender neutral and to amend discriminatory
laws. It has ignored Article 5 of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, which it ratified in 1996, which
obliges states to ?modify the social and cultural
patterns of conduct of men and women? to
eliminate prejudice and discriminatory traditions.
Some apologists claim that traditional practices as
genuine manifestations of a community?s culture
may not be subjected to scrutiny from the
perspective of rights contained in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. Against this, the
1993 World Conference on Human Rights in the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
stated: ?All human rights are universal, indivisible
and interdependent and interrelated? and asserted
the duty of states ?to promote all human rights and
fundamental freedoms?. The United Nations
General Assembly in 1993 adopted the Declaration
on the Elimination of Violence against Women
which urges states not to ?invoke custom, tradition
or religious consideration to avoid their obligation?
to eliminate discriminatory treatment of women.
While recognizing the importance of cultural
diversity, Amnesty International stands resolutely
in defence of the universality of human rights,
particularly the most fundamental rights to life and
freedom from torture and ill-treatment. The role of
the state is to ensure the full protection of these
rights, where necessary mediating ?tradition?
through education and the law."